The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

III. Endless Chain of Individuals Calls for Reformation

As noted, Savonarola was not alone in dying for his faith. Many, about the same time, were aroused by the papal evils, and a number met a similar fate. Only barest mention can be made of a few of these protestors. The Carmelite THOMAS CONECTE, of Flanders, was burned in 1432, and the Dominican ANDREW, archbishop and cardinal, died in prison in 1484 for rebuking Sixtus IV. ⁴² JOHN OF WESEL, a vice-rector of the University of Erfurt, ended his life in prison in 1482 for assailing papal errors and showing the way back to the Bible ⁴³ PFF2 153.5

The Franciscan JOHANNES HILTEN, of Thuringia, languished in close confinement in prison from 1477 until his death, about 1500, because of rebuking certain well-known abuses. In prison, about 1485, he wrote a commentary on Daniel and the Apocalypse, parts of which soon came to the attention of the Reformers. ⁴⁴ Hilten, citing Bridget of Sweden, said that the popes had perverted the vicarship of Christ; he saw the sword of punishment in the Turks. Like Joachim, he looked for a reformation of the church. ⁴⁵ Melanchthon refers to him in his Apology as the one who looked for someone to arise about 1516, whom the church would be unable to resist. ⁴⁶ PFF2 154.1

A popular feeling arose in Germany in the fifteenth century that a great crisis for the Papacy impended. Many former declarations of this character were assembled, and formed a sort of treasury of predictions of coming doom. A favorite collection was that attributed to a mythical John Lichtenberger, which contained such names as Reinhard, Bridget of Sweden, and the Sibyl. Aytinger, Griinbeck, and Hagen fall into this category. ⁴⁷ From 1450 to 1517 there were frequent declarations of the retribution about to burst over Rome, the popes, and the clergy, together with cravings for reformation. As Christendom, unaware, yet in a sense expectant, came close to the great epoch of the Reformation and the division of the church, the more threatening became these individual voices from the laity and even the clergy, and the more sharp their sting, directed at the Papacy. PFF2 154.2

VINCENT FERRER (1357-1419), Spanish Dominican preacher of Valencia, declared that the public manifestation of Antichrist (an individual, he believed) was near, and urged that mankind prepare for the great contest. ⁴⁸ JACOBUS DE PARADISO, Carthusian and Doctor of Divinity at Erfurt (1457), declared that the church would continue in utter depravity until the appearance of Antichrist, which must now be very near. ⁴⁹ That the church was in a lamentable condition, all agreed. But one faction said it would be renovated, and the other declared it would go to ruin. Machiavelli (1469-1527), Florentine political writer and humanist, boldly said: “One of two things must come upon the Roman Church, either utter ruin or a very heavy chastisement.” ⁵⁰ PFF2 155.1

Bishop BERTHOLD OF CHIEMSEE, in 1519, in his The Burden of the Church (like the “burden” of Isaiah)—influenced by Joachim, Ferrer, Catherine of Siena, Bridget of Sweden, and Hildegard—draws a dark picture of degradation and gloomy anticipation. So also does the Swiss poet PAMPHILUS GENGENBACH, who quotes Joachim, Bridget of Sweden, Reinhard, and others in the form of questions and answers, climaxing with the appearance of Antichrist, and suggesting the reformation of the church. ⁵¹ PFF2 155.2

A seemingly endless succession of calls for reformation came during this period—a living protest in the very bosom of the church. Peasants—such as HANS WERNER, of Villingen, able to repeat almost the entire Bible from memory, and to refer readily to nearly any Scripture text—disputed from the Bible with the priests. The belief that the iniquities of the last days were upon them was increasingly common. Such ideas were rampant throughout the Continent. ⁵² PFF2 156.1

Picture 2: MAJOR EXPOSITIONS OF THE LEADING PRE-REFORMATION WRITERS
Positions on the key prophecies held by Europe’s leading expositors, between 1300 and 1500, are here disclosed at a glance. The writers are tabulated in chronological order. Reference to the actual text is easily had by turning to the page noted. Certain constantly recurring terms—Antichrist, Abomination of Desolation, Beast, Babylon, and Harlot—appear in their respective columns, and the interpretation given. The various outline prophecies and time periods of Daniel appear in sequence; then the same follows for Revelation. The preponderance of any given exposition can easily be deduced by scanning the vertical columns. On the other hand, the over-all position of any given expositor can quickly be had by following through this allocated line horizontally. This provides a simplified index and visualized tabulation of his essential teachings.
The abbreviations are simple: “B-P-G-R” means Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Rome; “P-G.” = Persia, Greece; “Ch.” = church; “Pagan R.” = Pagan Rome, etc.
This table discloses the fact that the identification of Antichrist, under his various names (Little Horn, Man of Sin, Abomination of Desolation, Beast, Babylon, and Harlot), was uppermost in the minds of men at the time. The four world powers, with Rome followed by the great papal apostasy, was the predominant emphasis of the hour. The year-day principle was likewise by now being slowly perceived and applied to most prophetic time periods—including, for its first time, the 2300 year-days. But the Augustinian theory of the millennium was still predominant throughout Christendom.
(Similar tabular chart-summaries will appear at the close of each major epoch, as we progress. This will place all the essential information at our finger tips.)
Conclusions: These two deductions are surely to be made: (1) It was, significantly enough in Britain, far away from Rome—where the Venerable Bede (673-735) was about the only one who attempted any sound exposition of prophecy during the Dark Ages (covered in Volume I)—that the fullest and clearest exposition now appears, under Wyclif, Wimbledon, Purvey, and Brute, all dissentient voices, in conflict with Rome. All others, in these two centuries, saw principally one thing—the contemporary existence and identity of the predicted Antichrist. To this they emphatically testified.
And by now (2) along with the seventy weeks interpreted as years (handed down from the Jews in the third century b.c), the 1260, 1290, 1335, and 2300 days from Daniel (enunciated as years by Joachim and his successors in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries) we see the ten days, the five months or 150 years, and the 1260 years from the Apocalypse all expounded. The major advance, however, is the fact that now for the first time Cusa gives a specific dating for the 2300 years.
For sequence and over-all relationship, note again the comprehensive chart on pages 96, 97.
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